NFL
This 1 Stat Proves Just How Truly Awful the NFC East Has Been in 2020
Luke Norris began his sportswriting career in 2013 and joined Sportscasting in 2020. The former Section Editor of the NFL and Motorsports sections, he now spends his time here in the role of Senior Writer-Programmer. His well-rounded sports knowledge allows him to cover the NFL, NBA, PGA Tour, MLB, boxing, WWE, and NASCAR for Sportscasting. Luke is an avid golfer who finds inspiration in the way sports can bring people together and provide a distraction from the real world. He hopes to provide a little entertainment or an escape from the real world with every article he writes, even if only for a few minutes. In addition to his work here at Sportscasting, Luke's work has appeared on The Sportster, Inquisitr, GiveMeSport, FanSided, Yahoo! Fox Sports, and Sports Illustrated.
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Since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the NFC East has been the best division in football, at least in terms of winning. The division that includes the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, and the newly-renamed Washington Football Team has represented the NFC in the Super Bowl 21 times and won 13 of those games, both of which are the highest marks in any division in the NFL. The NFC East is also the only division in football in which all four current teams have won a Super Bowl.
But then there’s the 2020 NFC East, which is on track to be the worst division in NFL history.
The Dallas Cowboys, who were manhandled on Monday night by the Arizona Cardinals, are in first place at 2-4, which is just embarrassing. But there might be something even slightly worse than that. Before we get to that, let’s take a quick look at what happened in the division this week.
The Dallas Cowboys were manhandled by the Arizona Cardinals on ‘Monday Night Football’
In their first game since 2015 without Dak Prescott as the starting quarterback, the Dallas Cowboys came into Monday night’s game against the Arizona Cardinals with a plan. Get the ball to Ezekiel Elliott and let him do his thing to take some of the pressure off of Andy Dalton. And we all saw how that turned out.
Zeke fumbled twice in the first half, both of which led to Arizona touchdowns, and the game was essentially over from there. The Cowboys’ defense was once again atrocious in the 38-10 loss and is now allowing an average of 36.3 points per game. If that pace continues, the 2020 Dallas defense will become the worst in NFL history.
The Philadelphia Eagles lost by two to the Baltimore Ravens
The Philadelphia Eagles also picked up a loss for the NFC East on Sunday, although their game was much closer than the beating in Dallas, at least at the end. Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens jumped out to an early lead and took a 17-0 lead into halftime and a 24-6 lead into the fourth quarter.
At least the Eagles showed a little heart in their loss. They scored 22 points in the final quarter to cut the lead to 30-28 but failed on the two-point conversion following a touchdown run by Carson Wentz with about two minutes to play.
Naturally, the only NFC East win on Sunday came in an intradivisional matchup between the Giants and Washington
As it’s happened for the NFC East for the vast majority of the season, the only win for the division came in the intradivisional matchup between the Washington Football Team and the New York Giants. But this certainly wasn’t a pretty game.
The Giants jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter and took a 13-10 lead into the half. After both teams failed to score in the third, Washington tied it up in the fourth with 8:56 remaining. The Giants took a 20-13 lead with 3:29 to play following a 43-yard fumble return from Tae Crowder but, to their credit, Washington fought back with a 10-play drive that resulted in a Kyle Allen touchdown pass to Cam Sims with 36 seconds remaining. But Washington opted to go for two and missed it, giving the Giants their first win of the year and the NFC East their only win of the day.
Six teams have as many wins as the four teams in the NFC East combined
As mentioned, following the games on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys are atop the NFC East at 2-4, which, again, is just embarrassing. Overall, through the first six weeks of the season, the division has a combined record of 5-18-1, easily the worst in the NFL. But try this one on for size.
There are currently six teams in the league that have as many wins as the four teams in the NFC East combined. The Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans, and Kansas City Chiefs all have just as many victories as the entire NFC East.
Now that’s embarrassing. But perhaps it’s not quite as embarrassing as the fact that one of these teams in the NFC East will actually make the postseason.
All stats and standings courtesy of Pro Football Reference
